Tool-handle-holding means



Dec. '15 1925. 1,565,611

R. ADE

`TOOL HANDLE HOLDING MEANS Filed ulg1 1'1. leas Patented Dec. 15, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RUDOLPH ADE, OF EVANSVILLE, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO VANSVILLE TOOL WORKS, "OF EVANSVILLE, INDIANA, A CORPDRATION vOF INDIANA..

TOOL-HANDLE-HOLDING MEANS.

Application filed August 11, 1923. Serial No. 656,882.

To all Iwhom t may concern:

Be it known that I, RUDOLPH Ann, a citi- Zen oit the United States, residing at Evansville, Vanderburg County, Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tool-Handle-I-Iolding` Means, of which the following is a specification.

'The present improvements relate to means for holding a handle to suoli a tool as a application in connection with such tools as have what is known as an adze-eye adaptstructure of Fig. 1 after resetting the handle.

In such adze-eye tool heads there is a tubular extension as oi' the main body through which, together with the main part of the head, theveye or handle opening extends.

The extension 10 is designed Vto provide a relatively long handle opening` whereby the handle may be secured to the head the more 3*? strongly. As shown by Fig. 1 the handle opening` is provided with a constricted area as at 11, which is ordinarily about half-way from end to end of the opening or eye. The walls defining the handle opening converge to this constricted portion or area at 11 from both ends ot the eye, such convergence being not only at the top and bottom of the eye, as shown in Fig. 1, but the opposite side walls similarly converge. The handle opening` has a relatively long axis in the normally vertical direction in cross-view and a relatively short axis normally horizontal in cross-view. The adZe-eye construction described is according to ordinary practice well understood.

The handle inserted in such tools is made with a part 12 on tapered lilies adapted to fit into that portion of the eye defined by I the projection lO. In ordinary practice a simple wedge or Wedges as 18 are driven into the outer end of the handle, expanding the wood there so as to tit tightly against 'the outwardly7 enlarging walls defining that part of the 'handle opening, and thus the handle is .more .or lSeiirely locked in the tool hammer, adze, etc., and will find its chielc n head. Various other means than such simple wedges 13 have been suggested for expanding the outer end of the wood handle. It is immaterial to the present invention what means are employed in lieu of the simple wedges 13 shown, which are intended to illustrate means for expanding the outer end portions of the handle to lock that part of it in the tool head.

lWhen the wood of the handle dries out it has been customary to drive the handle farther into the head, thus restoring the lit originally provided in the adZe-eye extension 10, with the result that the handle is forced outwardly beyond the end of the head, and thereupon the wedging means, for intance the simple wedges 13, are driven in farther` thus fairly well restoring the t of the handle in that part of the head, the projecting wood being thereupon removed.

Owing to the shocks and strains upon the handle at the head of such a tool as a hainmer, and notably a claw hammer, and because of the shrinkage of the wood, such handles are constantly working loose; Play or looseness between the head and the handle soon develops, Vand this gradually increases through the strains tending to coinpress iibers of the wood, such looseness contributing to the loosening of the wedges, and according to usual practice considerable and frequent adjustment has been required, and the practice ordinarily includes such makeshiits as the driving in of nails or additional wedges from the outer end of the handle, substantially ruining the handle in Vthe eye and necessitating a new handle.

The present ilnprovements have for their principal object the provision of simple, cheap and easily applied means for overcoming the objection of loose handles in such tools, and the provision of means which may readily be operated to improve the holding effect from time to time, and which are equally advantageous at times when a resetting of the handle is desired.

To these ends I bore a hole 14E through the extension 10, about midway of its ends and preferably in the normally up-and-down direction of the tool, and at a side thereof easily accessible, such hole being parallel with the longest sides of the adZe-eye opening, and havlng an axial line directed about midway between those sides, and after the Cil the extension and the wedging means as 13 applied, and after the handle is as securely held by such means as is ordinarily accomplished, I insert in the hole let preferably a cone-shaped wedge shown as a screw 15 which has preferably a cjy'lindrical head adapted to pass into the opening 1a and through the same should occasion suggest, the screw having a tapered part 16 terminating preferably in a sharp point 17.- The point 17 is first driven slightly into the handle through the hole lit until the threads catch into the wood, and then the turning of the screw, as with a screw driver, causes the point 17 to penetrate between fibers of the wood, pressing them apart without unduly cutting them, and the screw as a whole thus acts as a wedge expanding the wood in that part of the eye defined by the extension 10. rlhe result is that the wood in this part of the eye is made to contact the sides of the eye there very tightly. Owing to strains upon the handle, as, for instance, by

lusing the claw thereof, the part 12 of the handle is apt to become somewhat loose even while the outer end portion of the handle is still held tightly. Such looseness may readily be overcome by advancing the screw, and such tightening` may be continued from time to time as found desirable.

A time usually arrives in the history of every new hammer or tool of that general kind when, through the drying ont of the handle, it is practically necessary to reset the handle, which is usually done without removing it from the head, as by forcing the handle further into or through the head and readjusting the outer wedging means. According to these improvements the screw 15 is entirely withdrawn before such resetting operation, and before anything else is done a tapered wooden plug, partly shown at 2O Fig. 3, is driven into the hole in the handle formed by the screw 15. r Thereupon the handle is driven into the head tightly, the wedge means, for instance the wedges 13, further tightened, thus resetting` the handle according to prior practice, and thereupon the screw 15 is reinserted, as shown in Fig. il. After such resetting of the handle ordinarily no further resetting is required, but if it should be desirable to do so the ent-ire resetting operation could be repeated. Ordinarily after such resetting the handle can be maintained tight by advancing the wedging means as 13 and also the screw 15.

The screw 15 not only serves as a wedge for expanding the handle in the extension 10, but it has the incidental function of loching the handle securely against retraction. I am aware that bolt-like members have heretofore been suggested for the latter purpose, but, so far as I know, means have not heretofore been suggested for providing an expansion of the handle in the adac-eye part of the tool head. The means l have herein set forth are simple and effective and greatly improve the conditions for maintaining a satisfactory fit between the handle and head of such tools.

l contemplate as being included in this invention such changes, modifications and departures from what is specifically herein illustrated and described as fall within the scope of the appended claim.

l claim:

The con'ibination of a tool head having a handle opening therethrough and having an extension providing as part of said opening an adZe-eye of the character described having a relatively long axis and a relatively short axis in cross view, Said extension having a hole thereir'l for a wedge to extend therethrough in the direction of said relatively long axis, a wood handle in said handle opening, means for holding the outer end portion of the handle tightly in the outer portion oit' the handle opening, and a threaded cone-shaped wedge in said hole and extending into the handle, said wedge having a cylindrical head of a diameter permitting it to pass into said hole to provide for advancing the wedge from time to time by a threading action beyond its normal relative position.

RUDOLPH ADE. 

